Build a Better … Pizza

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At Spoonbar, the bistro at Healdsburg’s h2hotel, a harvest-inspired pizza arrives topped with prosciutto, caramelized onions, grapes and ricotta, and drizzled with a flavorful gremolata-inspired oil. (Photo: Spoonbar)

Pepperoni and mozzarella are perfectly fine pizza toppings, but with a little creativity — and some farmers market inspiration — pizza can be a whole other thing. At Healdsburg’s h2hotel, executive chefs Casey and Patrick Van Voorhis took inspiration from the grape harvest earlier this fall when they designed a new seasonal pizza for Spoonbar, the hotel’s contemporary American bistro. The dish was served earlier this fall, but you can make it at any time of year, the chefs say, by using a few key tricks:

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Use flour or cornmeal on your pizza peel so the dough doesn’t stick. The ovens at Spoonbar crank up to 800 or 900 degrees. For a conventional oven, use a pizza stone and preheat at the highest possible temperature.

No need for sauce: Brush this Neapolitan-style pizza dough with olive oil, before adding toppings. Some ingredients — prosciutto, in this case — are better added after the pizza emerges from the oven.

Give the pizza a final flourish with a gremolata-inspired drizzle that adds fresh herbs, lemon zest and garlic to the flavor profile.

Harvest Pizza

Serves 2 to 3

Olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

Your favorite pizza dough

1/3 cup champagne grapes, or another small tart green grape

1/3 cup whole milk ricotta

4 slices prosciutto, torn into large pieces

Gremolata:

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped basil

Grated zest from 1/2 a lemon

1 garlic clove, grated

1/2 cup olive oil

Place pizza stone in oven. Turn oven as high as it will go, and let it heat for 30 minutes to an hour.

Warm a little oil in a saute pan set over medium-low heat, add onions and saute until translucent and caramelized.

Combine gremolata ingredients, adding salt to taste.

Dust pizza peel with cornmeal or flour. Stretch your favorite pizza dough into a thin 14-inch round and place on peel. Drizzle dough with olive oil. Top with grapes, dollops of ricotta and the caramelized onions.

Slide pizza onto the pizza stone, and bake until the crust is golden brown — 3 to 4 minutes in an 800 to 900-degree oven, 8 to 12 minutes in a conventional oven. Add sliced prosciutto, drizzle with gremolata and serve.

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